A Note on Vodka

Vodka is one of the most versatile spirits on the market, which is one of the reasons it is the best selling.  It also has very few rules governing it.  Most spirits have many, sometimes complicated, laws that state how the spirit can be made, what it can be made of, where it comes from, how long it’s aged or not aged, yadda yadda so on and so on…

            At its very basic, all vodka is is an odorless colorless sprit.  It can be made of anything and can be made anywhere.  I get a lot of people in my store that think that all vodka is made from potatoes, but in actuality, very few are.  Most are made of wheat or grain, something to keep in mind if you are allergic to gluten. 

            So, on to the vodkas I chose for the tasting! The first thing I looked at when picking out the vodkas was, what is available to me in a pint?  Because I could very easily break the bank buying 7 bottles of vodka.  So that did dwindle my selection down considerably.  The next thing I thought about was what are the vodkas made of?   The most important thing for me in this is to dispel the myth that all vodkas taste the same, that you can’t tell the difference between a potato vodka or a wheat vodka or even a coconut vodka (yes there is vodka made from coconut). And the last thing I thought about was brand name.  I wanted some high end, some low end, some recognizable and some surprises.  And these are what I settled on: Chopin, Ciroc, Absolut, Smirnoff, Shakers Rye, Tito's, and Taaka.

Here is a break down of the vodkas and why I chose them:

Chopin: This is the only potato vodka that my store carries in a pint, so that is the main reason I picked it to be in the running.  It is a premium vodka made in Poland. 

Ciroc: another premium vodka, this one being the only vodka made from grapes that my store carries in pints.  Made in France. Oh, and Sean Combs has something to do with it or something, the rappers and gangstas seem to like it… whatever.

Absolut: Who hasn’t heard of Absolut? Even people who don’t drink should at least know the name Absolut. Made from Swedish wheat, which makes sense because it’s distilled in Sweden.

Smirnoff: Another common name in Vodka.  Made in Russia, from…. Wheat, I guess, but one site said corn… so I don’t know. It’ll be the mystery vodka!!! 

Shakers Rye: An American vodka that promises to “shake things up” in the vodka world.  As the name implies, it’s a rye vodka, but they also make a wheat variety to.

Tito’s: I had to put a Texas vodka on here, and why not the first ever Texas vodka! And to top it all off, it’s made from corn.  Good ‘ol Texas corn.

Taaka: A budget vodka, and I do stress the word budget. No clue what it’s made of, everything I can find just says grain.  It is also a sneaky little vodka, with a name like Taaka and what looks to be the Taj Mahal on the label you would think that it would be a Russian Vodka. Nope, Frankfort Kentucky….  I’m done talking about this one, but who knows, maybe it will surprise us.